Many Have Come To Love The Bucs But Respect Is Still A Goal

Of all his famous one-liners, John McKay will be remembered least for that remark, made one day before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played their first game.

The Bucs are entering their 10th season desperately seeking respectability. True, the Bucs have earned the respect of their peers at times. From 1978 through 1982, the rest of the league held their defense in the highest regard. And from '79 through '82, opponents feared the sporadic but deadly scoring ability of quarterback Doug Williams.

And the Bucs remember that they set a record for NFL expansion teams by reaching the playoffs in just their fourth year (1979).

But the national public never seemed to notice those things. Mention the Bucs in Iowa, Maine or California, and chances are the response will be, ''Oh yeah, those clowns who lost their first 26 games.''

The ripple effects of that start still can be seen 10 years later. McKay, a successful coach at the University of Southern California before coming to the Bucs, bordered on unpopularity because of his ''West Coast'' attitude, but that beginning turned McKay into one of the most disliked coaches of all time. It was as if 0-26 had been branded on his forehead, never to be forgotten.

And that infamous beginning never will be forgotten, but it can be put to rest. The opportunity begins now because McKay has stepped up to an invisible position as team president, allowing someone else to mold the Bucs into a new style.

A new team. First and 10. That's what makes the Bucs' 10th year seem exciting. It's a chance for Leeman Bennett to see what he can do, the chance for the team to dissociate itself from its legacy.

Still, even though the excitement lies ahead, the perspective comes from reviewing where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been. It has not been easy.

So many low moments happened in the Bucs' first two years that trying to pick the lowest becomes a matter of personel taste. Perhaps the worst moment in Buccaneers history took place late in the 1977 season at Tampa Stadium.

The New York Giants already had sent quarterback Randy Hedberg to the sidelines with a concussion. Gary Huff, who had come into the game with cracked ribs, was thrown to the Giants. In a matter of seconds Huff was left motionless on the ground after a vicious sack -- and a great number of Tampa Stadium's fans cheered.

If it wasn't the worst moment in the Bucs' history, it certainly was the worst in the history of their fans.

For anyone who wasn't there during the 0-26 streak, it's difficult to understand the frustration of McKay, the players, the fans and anyone connected with the team. Lee Roy Selmon, who would go on to become one of the great defensive ends in NFL history, reached a point in 1977 at which he refused to go to the grocery store for fear of recognition.

But few remain from that beginning. Selmon may never play again because of a back injury. From the original cast of players, only safety Mark Cotney and center Steve Wilson are left.

''You mean it's only 10 years,'' said Cotney, 33, taken from Houston in the veteran allocation draft that stocked the team. ''Thinking back to when Steve Spurrier was quarterback, it seems like a hundred years. I don't think the 0-26 start affects us any more -- except that it is the only record we hold. As for the country, I don't know what it thinks of the Buccaneers. It's been such an up-and-down situation.''

Cotney's worst memories?

''All of 1976,'' he said. ''I think I aged three years physically in that one season. It was awful from beginning to end. It just wasn't pro football.'' Oddly enough, Cotney's best memory is Wilson's worst. ''The best was the '79 season, when we beat Philadelphia in the playoffs and almost beat LA the Rams to make the Super Bowl,'' Cotney said. ''We were so close.''

Wilson, 31, a product of the Bucs' first college draft, views getting so close as the ultimate frustration, worse than anything that happened the first two years.

''The worst was that Rams game for the NFC title and a shot at the Super Bowl. All we needed to be in the Super Bowl was 10 points LA won, 9-0, and we couldn't do it. Nothing worked.''

After 137 games (45-91-1), three games (two victories, one defeat) stand out. Each has its own significance.

Tampa Bay 33, New Orleans 14. The first Buccaneers victory came on Dec. 11, 1977, in the Superdome. It ended the career of Hank Stram as a head coach and possibly prolonged the career of McKay. It was bigger than Christmas for the fans in Tampa, who joyously greeted the team upon its return.

But that game belongs to the players, all the players who had come and gone in the Bucs' first two years. It literally changed their lives, giving them hope when all hope had been abandoned.